Essence Devouring Art

The scarlet Chaos Space seemed endless.

To catch up to Su Xiuqi and his group, the Black Mountain Demon Saint and his followers had used various extraordinary movement-type Supreme Treasures, locking onto a direction and fleeing at extreme speed.

Meanwhile, Su Xiuqi and the others, as well as Wu Dao trailing behind, were all calmly following the group of "pathfinders."

The concept of time seemed to disappear.

The sensation of being far from any World grew ever clearer.

Wu Dao was on high alert, not daring to be the slightest bit careless. His Divine Eye Talisman and Celestial Eye Technique were constantly observing the changes in the distance.

VMMMM—

After crossing an unknown distance,

the seemingly endless scarlet Chaos Space came to an end. Ahead, a blinding, glazed brilliance shone like the rising sun, dispelling the vast darkness.

"Ah! No!!"

BOOM!!

But just then,

a bloodcurdling scream, accompanied by the sound of a Small Thousand World exploding, echoed from ahead.

A vast, surging wave of golden Holy Blood stained the glazed light, like a drop of red ink on white paper. The aura of death instantly snapped the dazed crowd back to their senses.

The glazed light dissipated.

Only then did the Demon Saints discover to their horror...

...that at some point, without realizing it,

they had entered a mysterious ancient path made of countless Glazed Stones.

The ancient path snaked onward, its end shrouded in Chaos.

It shimmered with a splendid, glazed luster.

It seemed to lead to an Immortal Divine Land.

But no one dared to take a step!

Because...

...the unlucky Demon Saint from before...

...had died on the ancient path for rushing too fast, instantly obliterated by an unknown power!

"Look!"

Suddenly,

a Demon Saint cried out in terror.

Following his gaze, the other Demon Saints felt their scalps tingle in an instant.

The fallen Demon Saint...

...his Small Thousand World, his blood essence, flesh, soul, and all his Creation—was being absorbed by the writhing ancient path, dyeing it into a scarlet, forbidden road!

This path...

...is alive?

The group of Demon Saints was instantly horrified.

It devoured a Saint-realm expert just like that. What kind of terrifying existence was this?

’There’s no retreat, only forward!’

At the very back, Wu Dao glanced at the empty darkness behind them and sensed an ominous premonition, one that could threaten his life.

If he retreated, he would very likely be buried in that darkness!

’Fortunately, I have this group of pathfinders.’

’Even I didn’t sense the danger from this bloody, forbidden path in advance.’

’If I had rushed in rashly...’

However, Wu Dao felt that something was off.

Although the Emperor’s Tomb buried a Great Emperor and couldn’t be easily entered and desecrated, the Heaven-Burying Alliance had entered its outer regions more than once.

It had never been this dangerous.

But this time, every step was lethal.

’Could it be related to the revival of the Extreme Dao Bell?’

’Did it trigger the Slaughter Emperor’s contingency plans?’

Wu Dao sensed the dormant, fragmented Qiankun Bell inside his body. It was the key to the Extreme Dao Bell, forged by the Slaughter Emperor.

’Knowing that madman’s temperament, he never cared for fate in his inheritances, only qualification. I’m afraid that even with the complete key, he wouldn’t let anyone obtain his treasures easily.’

’This trip... will most likely be fraught with crises and setbacks.’

’I hope these pathfinders last until the end.’

"I knew it! How could the Emperor’s Tomb be so easy to enter? Dammit! I was too greedy!"

One of the Demon Saints had also noticed the ominous, empty darkness behind them. With a wolf at the front and a tiger at the back, it seemed they were in a dead-end situation, and he was filled with regret.

"Shut up!"

The leading Black Mountain Demon Saint shot the other Demon Saint a cold glance, then said bluntly, "Since you love to flap your gums so much, why don’t you go scout the path!"

"You!"

That Demon Saint was only at the First Heaven of the Saint realm. His expression turned as foul as if he’d eaten shit. Wasn’t this sending him to his death?

"’You’ what? Get over here!"

But the Black Mountain Demon Saint gave him no chance to react. A great hand wreathed in the Dark World reached out, snatched the Demon Saint like a chick, and threw him onto the bloody ancient path.

Among the Demon Saints, the Black Mountain Demon Saint’s cultivation was the highest.

He was at the Fourth Heaven of the Saint realm.

For him, handling a First Heaven expert was no different from crushing an ant; all resistance was a joke.

"Black Mountain, I curse you..."

As the Demon Saint was thrown involuntarily toward the bloody ancient path, he seemed to know he was about to die and let out a vicious curse.

"Hah. If curses worked, what would be the point of Cultivation?"

The Black Mountain Demon Saint scoffed, paying it no mind, and quickly retreated.

The other Demon Saints also retreated, their hearts cold with fear.

They felt like they had stepped onto a path of no return. Who knew if they would be next?

As everyone fell back, the thrown Demon Saint slammed onto the bloody ancient path. But to the surprise and delight of the others, no Forbidden Power erupted. The Demon Saint was still completely unharmed!

"Could it be..."

The Black Mountain Demon Saint looked at the Glazed Ancient Path bordering the bloody section, which was now spreading its scarlet stain toward them. A guess formed in his mind.

This was a Blood Sacrifice Path!

Only after the path had drunk its fill of blood would it become a safe passage!

But...

’Isn’t a Saint-realm expert too high a price?’

The Black Mountain Demon Saint’s gaze shifted toward the Chaos Exit at the end of the path. It was too far. Even if they sacrificed everyone here, it would be impossible to reach it.

At this thought, the Black Mountain Demon Saint callously ordered the Demon Saint who was too scared to move, "Sacrifice the living beings in your Inner World! See if you can continue to stain the ancient path red!"

"You..."

The Demon Saint gritted his teeth, but the Black Mountain Demon Saint’s pressure, like that of an eternal Demon Mountain, left him no room to disobey.

Among the Primordial Extraordinary Creatures of Hongyuan, any who stepped into the Saint realm and fully mastered the rules of a World could forge a complete Inner World capable of sustaining life, nurturing countless living beings and races.

The unlucky Demon Saint was reluctant.

It wasn’t out of compassion. Rather, every Saint-realm expert was like a Creator. Everything in their Inner World was part of its rules, part of their Power.

If the world prospered, they grew stronger; if it was annihilated, they grew weaker.

Annihilating all living beings in a Saint’s Small Thousand Inner World would definitely cause that Saint to suffer a severe blow!

But might makes right, and the weak are destined to suffer!

However unwilling he was, the Demon Saint still extracted countless unique living beings from his Small Thousand World and its Three Thousand Worlds.

There were members of the Human Race, Demon Beasts, Magic Beasts, Alien Species...

They seemed to come from different civilizations.

Different worlds.

A dazzling array of thousands of races.

One thing they had in common was that they had all embarked on the Path of Transcendence; they were not ordinary creatures.

However, these beings seemed to be seeing the outside world for the first time. They had no idea that the world they inhabited was merely the Inner World of a Saint-realm expert.

In their perception, the World was vast, and the Star River was brilliant.

The age of Heaven Opening was ancient and untraceable. Beyond their realm lay Three Thousand Worlds and countless races, so vast that even the Strongest couldn’t explore it all in a lifetime.

The greatest fear they could imagine... was the periodic eruption... of a strange power, completely alien to their understanding of the Great Dao, that would erode and destabilize the All Heavens.

But in reality, the time and space they knew were merely products of their Creator’s Heaven and Earth Creation.

The "strange catastrophes"... were just their Creator fighting an enemy and being eroded by alien rules.

Now, suddenly brought to the outside world, from their perspective, the Demon Saint became an indescribable higher-dimensional being, and their entire existence a pre-set program. In that instant, their worldview shattered, their perception collapsed, and all that remained were screams of utter terror.

But their screams earned no pity.

The Demon Saint turned a deaf ear, and like scattering sand, he tossed the countless beings in his hand onto the ancient path ahead.

BOOM!

The glazed light reappeared!

Like a great celestial millstone, it instantly ground the countless beings who fell onto the path into nourishment, dyeing another section of the ancient path red.

It worked!

The Black Mountain Demon Saint breathed a sigh of relief.

Although the quality couldn’t compare to the Demon Saint sacrificed earlier, only dyeing a small section of the path, it was enough as long as there was a way to escape this predicament!

"Continue!"

Under the Black Mountain Demon Saint’s coercion, the unlucky Demon Saint... could only pull out handful after handful of countless beings from his Inner World.

He sprinkled them onto the Glazed Ancient Path ahead, his heart aching with each loss, dyeing a safe, bloody road for him to advance.

What ached, of course, was his constantly declining Power, not the terrified, screaming beings whose worldviews were shattering.

In fact, to him, these beings... were just a part of his Power, not truly life. Once he recovered, they would flourish again.

At the very back, Wu Dao calmly watched the Demon Saint pull out handfuls of beings from his Inner World for the blood sacrifice, listening to their countless desperate screams, his heart as still as water.

’Righteous and demonic are no different; only the strong are just.’

’When a life form becomes powerful enough, all concepts of justice and morality become subject to infinite double standards, their boundaries blurring.’

’Those who proclaim themselves to be paragons of the righteous path, do they not realize they too commit boundless slaughter when they kill others? But as long as they slap the label of the Demon Dao on their victims, they feel miraculously at ease.’

’And so, there has never been good or evil in this world.’

’The entire order of good and evil is merely a self-serving rule for the strong and a self-deception for the weak.’

This cruel truth... was something Wu Dao had already understood and adapted to in his previous life.

The strong are built upon the misfortune of countless weak. If he were to be eliminated by someone even stronger, he would only blame himself for not being powerful enough.

With the flesh and blood of countless beings paving the way, the stained, bloody path began to extend forward. The Demon Saints followed behind the unlucky one and encountered no further danger.

However, after advancing a certain distance, the Saint’s aura grew weaker and weaker, and he pulled out fewer and fewer beings, finally standing weakly at the end of the cleared section and saying,

"They’re gone. There are none left."

"What a waste!"

The Black Mountain Demon Saint snorted coldly. His gaze swept over the other Demon Saints, who were as silent as cicadas in winter, and finally picked a new unlucky soul:

"You, continue!"

That Demon Saint was only at the Second Heaven of the Saint realm and naturally couldn’t resist. He could only take the place of the previous victim, continuously pulling countless beings from his Inner World to serve as a blood sacrifice for the path ahead.

The bloody sacrificial path continued to spread forward.

One by one, the Demon Saints were forced by the Black Mountain Demon Saint to empty their reserves.

After the last one was emptied, the Black Mountain Demon Saint grabbed the first unlucky soul who had recovered and forced him to continue contributing, pulling out beings for the blood sacrifice.

For this exploration of the Emperor’s Tomb, the Demon Saints had all come fully prepared.

They naturally didn’t lack resources to restore their Power. They would harvest one batch, then cultivate another, continuously feeding the bloody path as they walked toward its end.

However, if there was a medicine for regret in this world, they probably would have never held onto the sliver of hope that they were the chosen one. They would have stayed as far away from the Emperor’s Tomb as possible.

...

VMMMM—

When the final section of the Glazed Ancient Path was dyed red, the channel ahead, filled with Chaos Qi, suddenly erupted with a terrifying gravitational force.

Before anyone could react, they were all sucked inside.

The gravitational pull from the channel was too abrupt and irresistible, exposing the hidden Su Xiuqi and the other Demon Saints from the Heaven-Burying Alliance.

As for Wu Dao, hidden within his Magnetic Field domain and accompanied by various treasures, he naturally remained hidden.

"Su Xiuqi, you son of a bitch!"

The moment the Black Mountain Demon Saint saw Su Xiuqi and the others, he remembered how he had almost been led to his death, and his fury was uncontrollable. He was about to strike.

But before he could make a move, the attraction from the Chaos channel suddenly intensified, sweeping everyone into an unknown place.

RUMBLE!

The sun sank, the moon shattered, and the universe collapsed!

Just as Wu Dao perceived the outside world, a terrifying blade of light annihilated the Star Sea and came slashing toward him.

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